Spirituality has long been considered an important coping mechanism in the face of illness, disease, and other stressful life events; and spiritual well-being may be particularly important in geriatric outcomes. Research is needed to specify there effects. The broad aim of this research is to develop a valid and reliable scale which measures key aspects of spirituality in the elderly, and which can be used in future longitudinal studies examining the association between spirituality and health. Specific aims of the research are to modify the current Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) for application in elderly populations, to administer the Short Form 36 Health Survey concurrently with the revised SIBS, thereby obtaining preliminary data on the association between spirituality and health/functional status, and to systematically test selected items from the SIBS scale for use with the elderly. The modified scale will be given along with the SF-36 scale to approximately 350 elderly participants selected to include a diversity of socioeconomic status, race, and religions. Test-retest reliability and stability of scores over time will be assessed in these elderly subgroups. Population-based data on SIBS scores will also be obtained by random digit dialing telephone survey. For each of these respondent groups, the following will be examined: item analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and multiple regression analysis to assess for independent and interactive effects of the various demographic and functional status measures and their contribution to the SIBS score.